GEOG 1112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Nexter Systems, Ted Fujita, Squall

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: Geography
• Course: GEOG 1112
• Professor: Stan Hopkins

Document Summary

Lightning is flashes of light generated by the flow of tens of millions of volts of electrons (electrical charge) between oppositely charged parts of a cloud or between the cloud and the ground. What causes light(cid:374)i(cid:374)g? charges separated within the t-(cid:272)loud as the sto(cid:396)(cid:373) de(cid:448)elops positi(cid:448)e (cid:272)ha(cid:396)ges (cid:374)ea(cid:396) the top, (cid:374)egati(cid:448)e (cid:272)ha(cid:396)ges at the (cid:271)ase light(cid:374)i(cid:374)g is the (cid:272)louds (cid:449)ay of t(cid:396)yi(cid:374)g to e(cid:395)ualize this (cid:272)ha(cid:396)ge diffe(cid:396)e(cid:374)(cid:272)e o(cid:396) i(cid:373)(cid:271)ala(cid:374)(cid:272)e . The first step is the establishment of an invisible step leader of charges formed from the cloud base toward the ground. This may contain several linked pathways, each reaching toward the ground. Once one of these pathways reaches the ground, the connection between the areas of unlike charges is completed. The pathway which reaches the ground first is the main trunk of the lightning strike and is the most brightly illuminated.